


In the Light of the Morning

by heartunsettledsoul



Series: Forgotten Moments [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 02:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12122268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartunsettledsoul/pseuds/heartunsettledsoul
Summary: A quick little insert for 1.07 because I like to think Jughead brings Betty coffee when she’s having a bad day.





	In the Light of the Morning

The morning after the search party for Polly, Betty came into school early to post up in the Blue & Gold offices. She hadn’t been able to sleep after finding Polly in the Cooper attic, her mind was running in circles at breakneck speed and no matter what she did, she couldn’t get her mind to calm itself long enough to fall asleep. Everything that was going on in her life was just  _ exhausting.  _ The half-moon cuts on her palms stung and her mind would not stop worrying and Betty would have done anything to simply not have to think about Jason’s murder or her sister or her sister’s pregnancy for just a few moments. She needed the reprieve of sleep because now, even when she’s not focused on Jason or Polly, Betty’s mind wanders to  _ Jughead _ , and starts to convince herself that whatever they have will be over before it starts because her life is insane. 

So Betty was tired. When the sun finally broke through the quiet night, she got out of bed and got dressed for school. Riverdale High’s doors unlocked at 5am and Betty was pacing outside in parking lot by 4:52am. She’d scribbled a note for Alice, saying she was going in early to work on the paper. She did manage to do some work on the layout for the week’s issue but after she misspelled the word “occurring” four times in a row, Betty gave up. Her brain simply was not going to be her friend today. 

On the other end of Riverdale High, Jughead took his stealthy shower and dug through his backpack for a fresh tshirt. He was down to his last 100% clean shirt, so he would have to find time to do laundry soon, lest he truly live up to his homeless status and walk around smelling like yesterday’s garbage and cigarette smoke. 

As he crept through halls, careful to avoid the custodian who opened up the doors every morning, Jughead started to daydream about the breakfast he’d order when he got to Pops. His brain manufactured the scent of bacon right as he passed the Blue & Gold offices. A blonde ponytail swished in his periphery and he was startled to see that Betty was sitting at the office’s computer, clearly frustrated. Her head hung in her hands and she was rubbing circles into her temples. Everything in her body language showed her exhaustion, but she also radiated tension. Jughead wanted nothing more than to massage the knots out of her neck and the only thing stopping him was the voice in the back of head that mocked him constantly.  _ She probably doesn’t really feel that strongly about you. It’s just the heat of the moment.  _ He usually managed to keep that voice at bay, but he was feeling particularly self-deprecating today. The promise of an interaction with his father had that effect. Plus, Jughead felt certain that escalating from a couple of brief, albeit world-altering, kisses to a massage in a public setting wouldn’t be something Betty would be too comfortable with. 

Instead, he settled on making a smaller gesture. His walk to Pops was filled with the thought of Betty’s smile. Jughead was pretty sure he could spend every waking moment of his life trying to make that girl smile. Not her Alice Cooper-proof smile, which was constantly plastered on her face when she knew people were watching or counting on her. The  _ real  _ Betty Cooper smile, the one that didn’t break through the facade all that often, but that lit up the room when it did. Jughead had been on the receiving end of that smile a few times over the past few weeks and he’d do anything to be on the receiving end again. He loved that smile. 

So much so that he decided to forgo the bacon he was dreaming about at Pops and just purchase two large coffees, to go. When he got back to the Blue & Gold offices, it didn’t look like Betty had moved an inch. She picked her head up out of her hands when she heard the door creak open, quickly brushing away tears that filled the rims of her eyes. She had been halfway to plastering on her Alice Cooper smile when it registered who her visitor was. 

“Oh, Juggie, it’s you. I was half expecting my mother to come hunt me down.” The words tumbled out of her mouth in a rush, clearly still trying to appear as though she were anything but crying at school first thing in the morning. The tears she’d missed spilled over, though, and suddenly her face crumbled. 

Jughead was over to her in an instant, wrapping her up in his arms and stroking her back as silent sobs wracked through her body. He wanted so much to be able to erase the chaos for her, to let everything fade into white noise and have it just be the two of them, held in each other’s arms. But this was Riverdale, and they were who they were; this was their reality and no matter what the two of them wanted, they had to deal with the chaos. Almost as though Betty’s thoughts had mirrored his own, Jughead could feel her sobs lessening and the tension draining from her body. She shifted and he loosened his grip, sliding his hands to her shoulders as she took a step back. 

Betty took a big, shuddery inhale and slowly let it out. Her facial expression was starting to even out, though tears were still leaving tracks down her cheeks. When she spoke, her voice wavered only slightly. “You’re here so early, Jug.” 

If only she knew. 

“I, uh,” he cleared his throat. “I was up.” It was the closest thing to the truth he could do right now. Betty looked up at him, curious, but not questioning it. “I brought coffee, though.” He gestured to where he had set the cups down before rushing over to her. 

And there is was: the smile that warmed even his moody, sarcastic heart. Even with a tear-stained face that had exhaustion written all over it, that smile radiated everything good and sincere and compassionate about her. Betty beamed at him, reaching over for one of the cups. She took a long sip of it and Jughead noticed the signature pink lipstick print she left behind. Even in her worst moments, she was still the Betty Cooper he knew and loved. 

“Thanks, Juggie.” She kissed him lightly and then nestled into the crook of his neck. He kept one hand settled on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing soft circles into her shirt, and took a long pull from his own coffee with the other hand. 

It was peaceful, this moment. The rest of Riverdale was still waking up, and these two were enjoying their companionable silence. There was a lot coming that day: finding a way to help Polly leave town, talking FP into taking his job with Fred back, and the ever-present storm cloud of a murderer on the loose. For now, they were just relishing the quiet of the morning like any average teenagers on the verge of something more. They held hands and sipped their coffees, bracing themselves for the day to come.

**Author's Note:**

> be gentle, I'm still getting back into the fic game.  
> but let me know if you're liking these! I might do some more mini stolen moments within canon before embarking on a longer piece.


End file.
